Research Week - Numel

Here's the first LC Research Week! Most of the support in the nomination thread seemed to be directed at Numel, so here we go!

Goals of this Research WeeK:

Figure out what moves are viable a Numel.

Find potentially good teammates for Numel.

Figure out what kind of team Numel preforms on.

Figure out what kind of support Numel may need to be productive.

This thread is for discussion about Numel during the Research Week. I would appreciate that if any viable sets are discovered that they be posted here, since all the good ones will be combined into an analysis at the end of the week. Also feel free to post sets of any Pokemon that work good alongside Numel.

Numel isn't exactly your cup of tea kind of LC Pokemon; lacks the Speed, the typing (defensively), and the sort of bulk it needs to switch into stuff. Let's look at its perks as a Pokemon:

Simple: Stockpile

Support options: Stealth Rock, Will-O-Wisp, and Yawn

Good STAB options in Earth Power, Overheat, Fire Blast

What's the best way to exploit Numel to its full potential? I say Numel can run a support/defensive set despite the lack of reliable way to switch into many things and the lack of physical and special bulk.

It does have a near exclusive ability Simple to boost up both defensive stats and Will-O-Wisp to offset the lack of physical bulk it has. Simple allows Numel to not only increase its stat on both ends, but it also boosts its stats by two stages! The good part about this is that this tier lacks a reliable way to erase boosted moves. I've scratched up a theorymon set that could potentially work:

Stockpile is obviously the eye candy of this set, as it allows Numel to increase its defensive stats by two stages. After a single boost, Numel is peaking at around 25/28/24 (HP/Def/SpD) -- a pretty high defensive stat for someone with a poor defensive typing. Will-O-Wisp makes this set even more difficult to budge, when you consider the amount of overzealous physical attackers that might try to switch in. Here is just a display of Numel's ability to take hits at +2

This is just a list of potent physical attackers derived from the May stats in order. As you can see, Numel can take quite the beating after a single boost and this doesn't even count Will-O-Wisp inflicting them. Your typical scenario would be Stockpiling on something as they switch in; survive the hit, hit them with Will-O-Wisp and begin the stall. Stealth Rock or Rest totally depend on what you plan to do: Support or Stall. Earth Power is the key of this set, as it can easily eat Rock-, Steel-types, and Houndour for super effective damage.

I'm going to test this set later and see how it goes, but as for now I have a rough sketch of what Pokemon will draw in attacks for Numel to switch in and start setting up:

-Munchlax
-Duskull
-Chinchou (choiced)

From the list, I can lead off with Machop to lure in Duskull, which allows Numel to switch in and start setting up Stockpile. If you're lucky, you can can Duskull staying in and you can use Stockpile the second time to reach higher levels defensively. Munchlax will hurt not you with Earthquake after a boost, if you're lucky, you can grab the second boost and start spreading Will-O-Wisp the third time around.

Numel@Oran berry/Passho Berry/Chesto berry
Simple, Bold/Calm
A few different spreads could be used, not sure which would be the best. Maybe 196 HP/196 Def/76 SDef?
Amnesia/Stockpile/Sleep talk
Stockpile/Howl
Rest
Lava Plume/Toxic/Rock slide

This set functions similarly to Lileep's stockpile set, except that Numel has simple, but no recovery move besides rest. The idea is simple (pun intended). Switch in on something that can't harm Numel very much, boost special defence greatly with Amnesia, or both defences with stockpile, depending on what attacks your opponent's pokemon uses. When the blows start to take their toll, rest off the damage and keep boosting. Numel is unique in being the only pokemon that can get both defences to +6 with stockpile because of simple. After boosting your defences to +6, either boost your attack with howl and plough through your opponent's team with rock slide, or toxic your opponents pokemon and watch them die slowly. Lava plume, with it's burn rate, can be used so you're not taunt fodder. Defense curl is not used on this set because stockpile is better in every way on numel. If you go the howl route, use stockpile/rest/rockslide alongside it. If you go with lava plume or toxic, use stockpile and amnesia/sleep talk alongside.

Edit: Ninja'd.

The differences between this set and the one above are that his set is more of a late game sweeper, meant for finishing off the opponents team after it's counters have been removed.

Numel isn't exactly your cup of tea kind of LC Pokemon; lacks the Speed, the typing (defensively), and the sort of bulk it needs to switch into stuff. Let's look at its perks as a Pokemon:

Simple: Stockpile

Support options: Stealth Rock, Will-O-Wisp, and Yawn

Good STAB options in Earth Power, Overheat, Fire Blast

Click to expand...

Don't forget that it also has Howl, plus Earthquake and Rock Slide to use with it. Although really, I don't see it being able to use them all that effectively, aside from 'Wannabe Lileep' (and honestly, I think Lileep will do that better because of the SS SDef Boost to Lileep's Rock-type) or inside of TR.

Numel@Oran berry/Passho Berry/Chesto berry
Simple, Bold/Calm
A few different spreads could be used, not sure which would be the best. Maybe 196 HP/196 Def/76 SDef?
Amnesia/Stockpile/Sleep talk
Stockpile/Howl
Rest
Lava Plume/Toxic/Rock slide

This set functions similarly to Lileep's stockpile set, except that Numel has simple, but no recovery move besides rest. The idea is simple (pun intended). Switch in on something that can't harm Numel very much, boost special defence greatly with Amnesia, or both defences with stockpile, depending on what attacks your opponent's pokemon uses. When the blows start to take their toll, rest off the damage and keep boosting. Numel is unique in being the only pokemon that can get both defences to +6 with stockpile because of simple. After boosting your defences to +6, either boost your attack with howl and plough through your opponent's team with rock slide, or toxic your opponents pokemon and watch them die slowly. Lava plume, with it's burn rate, can be used so you're not taunt fodder. Defense curl is not used on this set because stockpile is better in every way on numel. If you go the howl route, use stockpile/rest/rockslide alongside it. If you go with lava plume or toxic, use stockpile and amnesia/sleep talk alongside.

Edit: Ninja'd.

The differences between this set and the one above are that his set is more of a late game sweeper, meant for finishing off the opponents team after it's counters have been removed.

Click to expand...

Switch the set to;
Sleep talk
Stockpile
Rest
Toxic/Lava Plume
Roar is nigh upon useless with only one attack, stockpile is far more appreciated. This would be better, as you get + in def and SpD, you can either Poison or Burn your opponent, depending on your move in the last slot. The only reason to use Lava Plume over toxic is if you are scared of steels, and this'll half their atk, so making you a even better wall.

The way I see it, with somebody as slow as Numel, but with the attacking prowess he has, Trick Room is probably the best way to go. Brave nature should see to it he goes first. Earthquake is for general STAB goodness with Howl. Return gives neutral coverage, and Fire Blast or Lava Plume depends on whether you want the power or want to attempt to burn things.

The way I see it, with somebody as slow as Numel, but with the attacking prowess he has, Trick Room is probably the best way to go. Brave nature should see to it he goes first. Earthquake is for general STAB goodness with Howl. Return gives neutral coverage, and Fire Blast or Lava Plume depends on whether you want the power or want to attempt to burn things.

Just an idea.

Click to expand...

The EV spread 36 HP / 196 attack / 36 def / 236 spat maximizes both of your offenses, while evening your defenses. And with 0 IV in speed it has a speed of 8. Too bad it can't learn Curse according to serebii...

^ if gligar's passing a rock polish, thats +4 speed - i don't think max speed on numel is needed at all, might as well just stack up in spa and hp, with enough attack to possibly ko mantyke with rock slide?

CoolTrainer™

Yeah, I agree with KD here. There is no reason to run speed on a Numel that expects a Baton Pass. Its speed will be multiplied by 3, not 4, meaning as long as it has at least 10 speed it will outspeed almost all Scarfers and tie other speed boosting Pokemon. I am kind of skeptical as to Numel's merit as a BP receiver -- it is incapable of KOing Mantyke with Rock Slide, even with maxed out attack. Its typing is also atrocious when paired with Gligar, who is a magnet for Water- and Ice-typed attacks. I would probably pair it with Venonat instead, who also has a 97.5% accurate Sleep Powder to help it out with BPing. You would probably also need Chinchou to take out Mantyke, since Numel's Rock Slide is only doing 88% damage max with Life Orb.

Setting up under TR has a tendency to fall flat on its face, since you only have a few turns to start with, and wasting one of them with stat-up moves is kind of a waste. I would definitely give Numel a try under Trick Room though. It has pretty good mixed stats, similar to Elekid, combined with awesome STABs. Earthquake/Fire Blast definitely seems like it would be a pain to deal with, especially when you consider that the strongest move Elekid commonly uses is ThunderPunch, which can't even hold the candle to EQ or FB.

I am kind of interested in the Stockpile set, because I have failed to deal with Lileep more times than I care to count. However, it appears as though Rest is its only recovery option, and it is 2HKOed according to most of the calcs. Recycle could have been kind of cool to use with Oran, but Numel unfortunately doesn't get it.

While I have yet to test it, I think that Scarf Numel could be cool. It has excellent STABs and is neutral Stealth Rock, so it may well be worth a try. Substitute Numel might also be cool. Switch-in on Duskull, Sub up, and attack safely. Of course, this is all theorymon, so I may well prove myself wrong after properly testing these sets.

Vader, getting 88% on tyke is enough because of SR. I agree on the Venonat point, can't wait to try that. Also, I forgot about simple, so KD's point is otherwise correct. I think the rest is right. Is it a good set, y/n?

I was thinking of a good way of using simple on numel and found out that it gets great partnership with surskit by receiving an agility baton pass instead of gligar cause of the water weakness.

For a set it may seem gimmick and I haven't tested it yet but how about a simple boosted focus energy? along with scope lens it reaches 50% critical chance which is really good, with it's good base stats it just needs a critical hit to take down most of the LC walls:

I was thinking of a good way of using simple on numel and found out that it gets great partnership with surskit by receiving an agility baton pass instead of gligar cause of the water weakness.

And for a set it may seem gimmick and I haven't tested it yet but how about a simple boosted focus energy? along with scope lens it reaches 50% percent critical chance which is really good, along with it's base stats it just needs a critical hit to take down most of the LC walls:

with the 76 spe ev's at +4 reaches 33, which outspeeds kabuto and horsea on the rain.

Critical fire blast takes down gligar, crit quake takes down munchlax, just to name the most prominent walls.

Click to expand...

The idea is gimmicky at best. Besides, how will you set up? Gligar will OHKO you with eq as you focus energy, munchlax will just hit you will a powerful eq that will OHKO you. There is no way you can set up with this. Also, is it confirmed that simple + focus energy works? btw, you have a 25% to crit, not 50%. You are only at +3 critical.

So what likes switching in to Numel? Munchlax, gligar, insert physical ground type, etc. do they enjoy getting burned? no. this thing is very bulky and shit hates getting wow'ed on the switch.

Click to expand...

This set is great in concept. But what are you going to force out? Maybe somethings like scarf staryu locked into thunderbolt. Keep in mind that Numel's defenses are so bad that even when burned stuff like gligar and munchy's eq will be doing a lot. Wynaut support might work with this set, but then i'm asking myself "Why don't I go all out offensive and kill stuff instead of burning it?" Numel is strong. It can 2hko munchy with eq, 2hko gligar with fire blast (ohko with hp ice) and kill just about everything with that. Numel's biggest problem is its speed. If Numel had 17 speed like dour, it woulf be used more.

Pass an agility to this and if you can bring it in on say, bronzor, you're on. Even without a substitute it can sweep. I recommend using an aglity passer and wynaut. This is different from my previous set because it can set up with agility or wynaut letting it get a sub. The only problem is that you lose some coverage...

Awesome sets so far! Stock Numel, SubWoW and Substitute Baton Pass Receiver all look good. Howl Trick Room looks interesting, but using a turn to set up in Trick Room takes up precious time. I'm going to try Stock Numel on my Sandstorm team and see how it works, it looks like a viable option in the Sand for stalling capabilities. Great work so far!

I have been trying to test SubSalac Numel. However, as I kinda anticipated, it has a lot of issues. Most notable in Numel's low Speed makes setting up a Sub very annoying. Bronzor and Munchlax are the only two things it has a chance against. Secondly, it is very weak to priority, which is always annoying. SubSalac is a no-go.

Stock Numel does not get the same boost from sandstorm as Lileep does. It doesn';t get the SpD boost, most notably. Stock Numel still takes massive damage from many attacks after a Stockpile, most which 2hko it anyways while Numel can do almost nothing back. It also lacks the instant recovery of Lileep. So yeah, Stock Numel is completly outclassed by Stock Lileep. It also can't take a special attack for shit, as it's typing is one of the worst in the game.

If you don't want to read it, basically Venonat comes in, takes a Gligar EQ, Agilities and then sleeps the Gligar, then BPs to Numel which subs and kills his Gligar, Diglett, and Machop before being taken out by Dratini's XSpeed.

Good work everybody! This concludes Little Cup's first research week! Expect an analysis for Numel being up soon. Also, sorry I wasn't too active. To be completely honest, I was engrossed in testing Arceus. But I'll still keep hosting Research Weeks!